Tamsin Greig webchat – as it happened

The actor, currently appearing in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in the West End, was here to answer your questions. Find out how she learned to sing, what happened when Bill Bailey got trapped inside a piano and why Mark Heap is a nightmare to be on set with

One last one

It's very close. David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik who have created some of the best known American TV sitcoms (you might have heard of Friends or Mad About You) have always said that when writing Episodes, they were writing for revenge. What's wonderfully ironic is that the people working in the industry haven't recognised themselves. What's also wonderful is that the show is actually being made, so there is hope there is a quiet sense of irony alive and kicking in Hollywood.

That's it! Thank you for all your questions

Thank you for all your questions (and some statements). Sorry I've not been able to answer more, but if you're really serious about getting answers, I can be found nightly and afternoonly on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Playhouse theatre in the musical version of Pedro Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. But you have to see the show before you ask the question.

We have an exceptionally talented bunch of women in Women on the Verge. I am overawed by their breadth of talent, knowledge, experience, and extraordinary welcome. Just by standing close to them, I'm hoping that their talent will rub off on me. There's no price on experience, but I think I may be pickpocketing from them. I think their courage to push the boundaries of musical expression is really inspiring. I've learned to sing the songs and now we're playing I'm hoping that I will learn to let the songs sing me.

How lovely. You're right, it's not much of a question. In fact, I don't believe it's a question at all, is it? However, your statement is lovingly received. That was a wonderful experience, working with Stephen Frears on the film version of Posy Simmonds' graphic novel. My character Beth witnesses her husband being trampled by a rampaging herd of cattle. This sounds really funny but as with most things that sound really funny, it was also rather heartbreaking. Stephen Frears said about the film that it was a rare bird because it dealt with the English middle classes, a section of the population who are rarely shown any interest. He also says this is probably because the middle class hate themselves. The word "middle: in itself has a whiff of mediocrity about it. But it is a delightful film because it upturns the stone most often overlooked.

'Comedies are very rarely put up for Baftas or Oscars...We're under the false impression that if something is serious, it can be taken seriously'

I feel incredibly grateful to have been offered the variety of work I have been. My agent works tirelessly to make sure that I'm not tarred with the brush of "the comic actor". Some of my most fulfilling roles have been serious: Edith Frank in the Diary of Anne Frank, Beth in White Heat, Constance in King John, DCI Maggie Brown in The Guilty. Human beings are funny and tragic, and to have the opportunity to explore both realms is a privilege.

I think we have got a fantastic array of female actors who can do both: Olivia Coleman, Julie Walters and Sheridan Smith to name but three are brilliant at bridging both realms. Weirdly, we are stuck in a contradiction. Comedy is very hard but it doesn't seem to be taken so seriously. It's interesting that comedies are very rarely put up for Baftas or Oscars. I think we are under the false impression that if something is serious, it can be taken seriously. But I don't think we need to divide the two realms. What's interesting to me is that acting is about finding the truth of a character, and good actors will do that work regardless of whether is something is labelled comedy or tragedy.

'Mark Heap is unbearable to work with'

Mark Heap is unbearable to work with. Very early on when we were making Green Wing they decided not to put me in scenes with him, because near him I cannot control myself. Even now, more than a decade on, when I am near him when filming Friday Night Dinner I have an immediate convulsive response. There are scenes in some episodes where they cannot cut round me laughing so they do actually appear in the show. I'm trying to disguise the fact, but very poorly. He is a genius.

I love the fact that Pepa is a woman of a certain age who seems to have arrived, and should know what's going on. She is however taken to the very edge of herself and I think for all human beings, that's a very profound place to find yourself. Looking into the abyss and deciding whether it will be breakdown or breakthrough. I love the fact that she comes to that point of choosing. When we remember we have a choice, and how we respond to things: I think that's where our freedom lies.

I did go to Madrid before rehearsals and prepared myself to meet with the true Spanish spirit, by going to see Real Madrid play at the Bernabeu stadium followed by a late night flamenco club. There was a very similar spirit of passion, vision, rhythm, and grace. It was brilliant.

When did you find out that Johnny Marr had his guitar tuned to open E for the rhythm part on The Headmaster Ritual? I found out about a year ago. I suppose my question is are you in favour of open tunings?

I’m fascinated that you played Constance in King John and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, two roles which are seemingly worlds apart, in combination with each other. Was it a really difficult juggling act, or were you able to find some common ground or overlap in terms of what these characters demanded of you as an actor? Sorry to bring you all the way back to 2006!

It was an extraordinary opportunity, when I joined the RSC for that season, to experience Shakespeare in that way. I was directed by two wonderful women directors Marianne Elliott and Josie Rourke who have both established extraordinary careers for themselves.

Constance was a heartbreaking woman, full of fire and bile, but with a necessary yearning for justice. She's actually not that far removed from Beatrice, because however comic a character Beatrice seems, she is fuelled by a cleverly disguised fire of outrage at injustice. So the two seemed different and of course they are, but there are elements of deep grief in both. In each production, what's interesting is which colours you use to reveal the grief. It was a wonderful year.

When I was first approached to play the part I laughed and said no. But the producers went on a stealthy wooing campaign and I was given an almighty array of extraordinary artists, singing teachers, vocal coaches, musical directors, laryngeal osteopaths, and speech therapists to help me find my voice. It was quite an undertaking. So I began a year-long journey of lessons and exercises. Always thinking inside that I probably wouldn't be able to do it.

I'd never sung professionally before and the thought of singing nine songs, four of which are alone, filled me with genuine terror. And even now we're into the 80th performance, there's still a tiny voice that says: what do you think you're doing! But it's a naughty voice. It's thrilling and challenging and brings great delight to me.

Pepa is the part that I play in the musical version of Almodovar's film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. She is a Spanish actress who is unceremoniously dumped by her lover Ivan by leaving her a message on her answering machine, so Pepa goes on a journey to find out what's happened. And she is fuelled by confusion, rage, grief, hilarity and despair. And finally reaches a place of hope.

So it's a wonderful journey to go on, and really thrilling that a woman's story is being told in that way, surrounded by so many other great female characters on a contemporary stage. I think it's very unusual for a show to end with nine female characters singing together on stage, a song of a great hope and longing. And surely there should be more.

Pedro is an extraordinary artist, with unimaginable generosity and vision and playfulness. He claims no ownership over any of his work, and is only delighted when the characters he brought to life initially, continue to find their ways in new outings. So it was thrilling to work with him, and to experience a little of his kindness and delight.

When he was asked why he is so interested in women, he said: when I was growing up in Spain in the 50s I was surrounded by women who made a great impression on me. They were the women who saved Spain after the civil war, so I have a great heart for women. So being around an artist who is so adept at storytelling but also has such great heart is a great privilege.